Cited by 474Evolutionary Psychology and Human BehaviorEpistemology, Ethics, and MetaphysicsPhilosophy and Theoretical Science

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 521 of the 521 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

The evolution of misbelief

Open access

McKay, Ryan T., Dennett, Daniel C.·2009·Behavioral and Brain Sciences

DOI 10.1017/s0140525x09990975

Open this paper in CoChat — free account Open PDF

Abstract

From an evolutionary standpoint, a default presumption is that true beliefs are adaptive and misbeliefs maladaptive. But if humans are biologically engineered to appraise the world accurately and to form true beliefs, how are we to explain the routine exceptions to this rule? How can we account for mistaken beliefs, bizarre delusions, and instances of self-deception? We explore this question in some detail. We begin by articulating a distinction between two general types of misbelief: those resulting from a breakdown in the normal functioning of the belief formation system (e.g., delusions) and those arising in the normal course of that system's operations (e.g., beliefs based on incomplete or inaccurate information). The former are instances of biological dysfunction or pathology, reflecting “culpable” limitations of evolutionary design. Although the latter category includes undesirable (but tolerable) by-products of “forgivably” limited design, our quarry is a contentious subclass of this category: misbeliefs best conceived as design features. Such misbeliefs, unlike occasional lucky falsehoods, would have been systematically adaptive in the evolutionary past. Such misbeliefs, furthermore, would not be reducible to judicious – but doxastically 1 noncommittal – action policies. Finally, such misbeliefs would have been adaptive in themselves, constituting more than mere by-products of adaptively biased misbelief-producing systems. We explore a range of potential candidates for evolved misbelief, and conclude that, of those surveyed, only positive illusions meet our criteria.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1017/s0140525x09990975

Cites

521 of 521 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Items 401–521 of 521

Minds, Machines and Evolution.
Millikan, R. G., & Hookway, C. J. (1987) · Noûs · doi:10.2307/2215073 · Cited by 93
The Innate Mind: Cultural and Cognition
Carruthers, P., Laurence, S., & Stich, S. (2006) · Cited by 93
Truth in Memory
Lynn, S. J., McConkey, K. M., & Cloître, M. (1999) · Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy · doi:10.1891/0889-8391.13.4.383 · Cited by 91
Cognitive Neuropsychiatry
David, A. S., & Halligan, P. W. (2000) · Journal of Neuropsychiatry · doi:10.1176/jnp.12.4.506 · Cited by 91
Is self‐esteem a universal need? Evidence from The People's Republic of China
Cai, H., Wu, Q., & Brown, J. D. (2009) · Asian Journal Of Social Psychology · doi:10.1111/j.1467-839x.2009.01278.x · Cited by 90
Darwin's “strange inversion of reasoning”
Dennett, D. C. (2009) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.0904433106 · Cited by 90
Self-citation
Believing, holding true, and accepting
Engel, P. (1998) · Philosophical Explorations · doi:10.1080/10001998058538695 · Cited by 89
Wondrous healing: shamanism, human evolution, and the origin of religion
(2002) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.39-5893 · Cited by 89
Positive illusions about marriage among married and single individuals.
Fowers, B. J., Lyons, E., Montel, K. H., & Shaked, N. (2001) · Journal of Family Psychology · doi:10.1037/0893-3200.15.1.95 · Cited by 89
Extinction learning, reconsolidation and the internal reinforcement hypothesis
Eisenhardt, D., & Menzel, R. (2007) · Neurobiology of Learning and Memory · doi:10.1016/j.nlm.2006.09.005 · Cited by 89
Cotard delusion after brain injury
Young, A. W., Robertson, I. H., Hellawell, D. J., de Pauw, K. W., & Pentland, B. T. (1992) · Psychological Medicine · doi:10.1017/s003329170003823x · Cited by 88
The Price of Expertise: Effects of Experience on the Water-Level Task
Hecht, H., & Proffítt, D. R. (1995) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.1995.tb00312.x · Cited by 87
Who Is the Controller of Controlled Processes?
Wegner, D. M. (2006) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195307696.003.0002 · Cited by 83
Implicit Theories of Intelligence
Hong, Y., Chiu, C., & Dweck, C. S. (1995) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-1-4899-1280-0_10 · Cited by 82
Attributional style in a case of Cotard delusion
McKay, R., & Lisa Cipolotti, A. (2006) · Consciousness and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.concog.2006.06.001 · Cited by 82
Self-citation
The inferiority complex in paranoia readdressed: A study with the Implicit Association Test
Moritz, S., Werner, R., & von Collani, G. (2006) · Cognitive Neuropsychiatry · doi:10.1080/13546800444000263 · Cited by 82
Supernaturalizing Social Life: Religion and the Evolution of Human Cooperation
Rossano, M. J. (2007) · Human Nature · doi:10.1007/s12110-007-9002-4 · Cited by 80
What Are Memories For? Functions of Recall in Cognition and Culture
Boyer, P. (2009) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511626999.002 · Cited by 79
Age Differences in Support Processes in Conversations between Friends
Denton, K. L., & Zarbatany, L. (1996) · Child Development · doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.1996.tb01801.x · Cited by 78
Delusion, Rationality, Empathy: Commentary on Martin Davies et al.:
Currie, G., & Jureidini, J. N. (2001) · Philosophy, psychiatry & psychology · doi:10.1353/ppp.2001.0006 · Cited by 77
The Meaning of Psychological Health
Jahoda, M. (1953) · Social Casework · doi:10.1177/104438945303400805 · Cited by 77
Integrating evolution and development: from theory to practice
(2008) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.45-3775 · Cited by 74
Testing major evolutionary hypotheses about religion with a random sample
Wilson, D. (2005) · Human Nature · doi:10.1007/s12110-005-1016-1 · Cited by 74
Cultural Similarities in Self-Esteem Functioning
Brown, J. D., Cai, H., Oakes, M. A., & Deng, C. (2008) · Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology · doi:10.1177/0022022108326280 · Cited by 74
What you don’t know: The role played by errors of omission in imperfect self-assessments
Caputo, D. D., & Dunning, D. A. (2005) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2004.09.006 · Cited by 73
The Adaptive Nature of Memory
Schooler, L. J., & Anderson, J. R. (2017) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-809324-5.21042-0 · Cited by 71
Positive marital illusions: Self-enhancement or relationship enhancement?
Fowers, B. J., Lyons, E., & Montel, K. H. (1996) · Journal of Family Psychology · doi:10.1037/0893-3200.10.2.192 · Cited by 71
Morbid jealousy from an evolutionary psychological perspective
Easton, J. A., Schipper, L. D., & Shackelford, T. K. (2007) · Evolution and Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2007.05.005 · Cited by 71
Beliefs and the Big Five: Cognitive Bases of Broad Individual Differences in Personality
Langston, C. A., & Sykes, W. E. (1997) · Journal of Research in Personality · doi:10.1006/jrpe.1997.2178 · Cited by 69
Following in the Wake of Anger: When Not Discriminating Is Discriminating
Shapiro, J. R., Ackerman, J. M., Neuberg, S. L., Maner, J. K., Becker, D. V., & Kenrick, D. T. (2009) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167209339627 · Cited by 69
Brainchildren: Essays on Designing Minds
Bennett, S. (. (1999) · Technology and Culture · doi:10.1353/tech.1999.0119 · Cited by 69
Emotional well‐being does not predict survival in head and neck cancer patients
Coyne, J. C., Pajak, T. F., Harris, J., Konski, A. A., Movsas, B., Ang, K. K., & Bruner, D. W. (2007) · Cancer · doi:10.1002/cncr.23080 · Cited by 68
Understanding projectile acceleration.
Hecht, H., & Bertamini, M. (2000) · Journal of Experimental Psychology Human Perception & Performance · doi:10.1037//0096-1523.26.2.730 · Cited by 68
Morbid jealousy and murder
Calder, W. B. (1966) · Journal of Psychosomatic Research · doi:10.1016/0022-3999(66)90083-3 · Cited by 68
Reverse Othello Syndrome Subsequent to Traumatic Brain Injury
Butler, P. V. (2000) · Psychiatry · doi:10.1080/00332747.2000.11024897 · Cited by 67
Self-deception in an Evolutionary Game
Byrne, C. C., & Kurland, J. A. (2001) · Journal of Theoretical Biology · doi:10.1006/jtbi.2001.2390 · Cited by 67
Models of misbelief: integrating motivational and deficit theories of delusions
McKay, R., Langdon, R., & Coltheart, M. (2007) · Consciousness and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.concog.2007.01.003 · Cited by 66
Self-citation
The defensive function of persecutory delusions: An investigation using the Implicit Association Test
McKay, R., Langdon, R. A., & Coltheart, M. (2006) · Cognitive Neuropsychiatry · doi:10.1080/13546800500363996 · Cited by 64
Self-citation
Radical Interpretation Interpreted
Davidson, D. (1994) · Philosophical Perspectives · doi:10.2307/2214166 · Cited by 63
Mirror agnosia
Ramachandran, V. S., Altschuler, E. L., & Hillyer, S. (1997) · Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rspb.1997.0091 · Cited by 63
Wondrous Strange: The Neuropsychology of Abnormal Beliefs
Young, A. W. (2000) · Mind & Language · doi:10.1111/1468-0017.00123 · Cited by 62
Corneal power and underwater accommodation in great cormorants(Phalacrocorax carbo sinensis)
Katzir, G., & Howland, H. C. (2003) · Journal of Experimental Biology · doi:10.1242/jeb.00142 · Cited by 62
The Error of God: Error Management Theory, Religion, and the Evolution of Cooperation
Johnson, D. D. P. (2009) · Springer Series in Game Theory · doi:10.1007/978-3-540-85436-4_10 · Cited by 61
Persecutory Delusions
(2008) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/med:psych/9780199206315.001.0001 · Cited by 61
Accuracy and bias in self-knowledge.
Brown, J. D. (1991) · Cited by 61
On the Impossibility of Defining Delusions
David, A. S. (1999) · Project Muse (Johns Hopkins University) · Cited by 59
Evolutionary Perspectives on Human Reproductive Behavior
LeCROY, D. (2001) · New York Academy of Sciences eBooks · doi:10.56021/9780801866968 · Cited by 57
Views of U.S. drivers about driving safety
Williams, A. F. (2003) · Journal of Safety Research · doi:10.1016/j.jsr.2003.05.002 · Cited by 57
Reconceiving delusion
Stephens, G. L., & Graham, G. (2004) · International Review of Psychiatry · doi:10.1080/09540260400003982 · Cited by 57
The fragmented folk : More evidence of stable individual differences in moral judgments and folk intuitions
Feltz, A., & Cokely, E. T. (2008) · Cited by 56
Neuropsychological analysis of a case of abrupt onset mirror sign following a hypotensive crisis in a patient with vascular dementia
Spangenberg, K. B., Wagner, M. T., & Bachman, D. (1998) · Neurocase · doi:10.1080/13554799808410616 · Cited by 54
“Positive Illusions in Parenting: Every Child is Above Average”
Wenger, A., & Fowers, B. J. (2008) · Journal of Applied Social Psychology · doi:10.1111/j.1559-1816.2007.00319.x · Cited by 54
5. The Drive to Love: The Neural Mechanism for Mate Selection
Fisher, H. (2017) · Yale University Press eBooks · doi:10.12987/9780300159318-006 · Cited by 53
The Self-Enhancement Motive in Collectivistic Cultures
Brown, J. D. (2003) · Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology · doi:10.1177/0022022103256482 · Cited by 51
Evolutionary Social Psychology
Maner, J. K., & Menzel, A. J. (2012) · Wiley eBooks · doi:10.1002/9781118133880.hop205023 · Cited by 50
On what people know about images on mirrors
Bertamini, M., & Parks, T. E. (2005) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2004.11.002 · Cited by 49
Chapter 109 Cognitive Illusions Reconsidered
Gigerenzer, G., Hertwig, R., Hoffrage, U., & Sedlmeier, P. (2008) · Handbook of experimental economics results · doi:10.1016/s1574-0722(07)00109-6 · Cited by 48
Beliefs and Desires Incorporated
Clark, A. (1994) · The Journal of Philosophy · doi:10.2307/2941082 · Cited by 48
The role of motivation
Howe, M. J. A. (2012) · Psychology Press eBooks · doi:10.4324/9780203016398-6 · Cited by 47
Costly Signaling and the Origin of Religion
Murray, M. J., & Moore, L. (2009) · Journal of Cognition and Culture · doi:10.1163/156770909x12489459066264 · Cited by 47
Multilevel integrative analyses of human behavior: Social neuroscience and the complementing nature of social and biological approaches.
Cacioppo, J. T., Berntson, G. G., Sheridan, J. F., & McClintock, M. K. (2000) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037//0033-2909.126.6.829 · Cited by 47
Striking of underwater prey by a reef heron,Egretta gularis schistacea
Katzir, G., & Intrator, N. (1987) · Journal of Comparative Physiology A · doi:10.1007/bf00615085 · Cited by 44
The Spandrels of Self-Deception: Prospects for a Biological Theory of a Mental Phenomenon
Leeuwen, N. V. (2007) · Philosophical Psychology · doi:10.1080/09515080701197148 · Cited by 44
What neurological syndromes can tell us about human nature: some lessons from phantom limbs, capgras syndrome, and anosognosia.
Ramachandran, V. (1996) · PubMed · Cited by 43
Detection of Violations of the Law of Pendulum Motion: Observers' Sensitivity to the Relation Between Period and Length
Pittenger, J. B. (1990) · Ecological Psychology · doi:10.1207/s15326969eco0201_3 · Cited by 41
Cooperative Courtship: Helping Friends Raise and Raze Relationship Barriers
Ackerman, J. M., & Kenrick, D. T. (2009) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167209335640 · Cited by 41
Adaptive illusions: optimism, control, and human rationality
Nettle, D. (2004) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198528975.003.0010 · Cited by 40
Implicit and explicit self-schema in active deluded, remitted deluded, and depressed patients
Vázquez, C., Diez-Alegría, C., Hernández-Lloreda, M. J., & Nieto‐Moreno, M. (2008) · Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2008.01.006 · Cited by 39
Misinformation, Fitness, and Selection
Wallace, B. B. (1973) · The American Naturalist · doi:10.1086/282812 · Cited by 38
Are conceptions of motion based on a naive theory or on prototypes?
Yates, J., Bessman, M., Dunne, M., Jertson, D., Sly, K. F., & Wendelboe, B. (1988) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/0010-0277(88)90026-1 · Cited by 37
Is minimal self preserved in schizophrenia? A subcomponents view
Mishara, A. L. (2007) · Consciousness and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.concog.2007.07.009 · Cited by 37
Evolutionary Bases of Prejudices.
Neuberg, S. L., & Cottrell, C. A. (2006) · Cited by 36
A review of selected sociobiological principles: application to hominid evolutionI. The development of group social structure
Baer, D. L., & McEachron, D. L. (1982) · Journal of Social and Biological Systems · doi:10.1016/s0140-1750(82)91588-3 · Cited by 36
Thought and Object: Essays on Intentionality.
Howarth, J. M., & Woodfield, A. (1984) · The Philosophical Quarterly · doi:10.2307/2218897 · Cited by 35
The dangerousness of persons with delusional jealousy.
Silva, A. J., Ferrari, M., Leong, G. B., et al. (1998) · PubMed · Cited by 34
Erotomanic stalking in evolutionary perspective
Brüne, M. (2002) · Behavioral Sciences & the Law · doi:10.1002/bsl.518 · Cited by 33
Motivation and manifestation: Cross–cultural expression of the self–enhancement motive
Brown, J. D., & Kobayashi, C. (2003) · Asian Journal Of Social Psychology · doi:10.1111/1467-839x.t01-1-00012 · Cited by 31
The Copycat Solution to the Shadow Correspondence Problem
Casati, R. (2008) · Perception · doi:10.1068/p5588 · Cited by 31
Is God Really Watching You? A Response to Shariff and Norenzayan (2007)
Randolph-Seng, B., & Nielsen, M. E. (2008) · International Journal for the Psychology of Religion · doi:10.1080/10508610701879373 · Cited by 31
Part I: Mind, memory, and archetype morphic resonance and the collective unconscious
Sheldrake, R. (1987) · Psychological Perspectives · doi:10.1080/00332928708408747 · Cited by 30
De Clérambault's syndrome (erotomania) in an evolutionary perspective
Brüne, M. (2001) · Evolution and Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/s1090-5138(01)00077-0 · Cited by 30
Biases in social judgment: Design flaws or design features?
Haselton, M. G., & Buss, D. M. (2003) · Cited by 30
Confabulation and delusion
Coltheart, M., & Turner, M. (2009) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199208913.003.08 · Cited by 29
HowDoesthe Mind Work? Insights from Biology
Marcus, G. (2009) · Topics in Cognitive Science · doi:10.1111/j.1756-8765.2008.01007.x · Cited by 28
Capture of submerged prey by little egrets, Egretta garzetta garzetta: strike depth, strike angle and the problem of light refraction
Lotem, A., Schechtman, E., & Katzir, G. (1991) · Animal Behaviour · doi:10.1016/s0003-3472(05)80033-8 · Cited by 25
Against the belief model of delusion
Hamilton, A. (2006) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/med/9780198526131.003.0011 · Cited by 24
The cognitive neuropsychological understanding of persecutory delusions
Langdon, R. A., McKay, R., & Coltheart, M. (2008) · Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich) · doi:10.5167/uzh-4080 · Cited by 22
Self-citation
Fun and Games in Fantasyland
Dennett, D. C. (2008) · Mind & Language · doi:10.1111/j.1468-0017.2007.00325.x · Cited by 19
Self-citation
Magic or medicine?: An investigation of healing and healers
Buckman, R. F., & Sabbagh, K. (1993) · Cited by 19
Colors of young and old spring leaves as a potential signal for ant-tended hemipterans
Yamazaki, K. (2008) · Plant Signaling & Behavior · doi:10.4161/psb.6175 · Cited by 18
Delusions
Young, A. W. (1999) · The Monist · doi:10.5840/monist199982421 · Cited by 17
The Mind Made Flesh
Humphrey, N. (1992) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-1-4419-8544-6_27 · Cited by 16
A continuum of mindfulness
Dennett, D. C., & McKay, R. (2006) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x06299084 · Cited by 15
Self-citation
Parent-offspring conflict, the extended phenotype, and the evolution of conscience
Voland, E., & Voland, R. (1995) · Journal of Social and Evolutionary Systems · doi:10.1016/1061-7361(95)90025-x · Cited by 15
Thoughts and oughts
Cash, M. (2008) · Philosophical Explorations · doi:10.1080/13869790802015635 · Cited by 14
Language as a community of interacting belief systems: A case study involving conduct toward self and others
Wilson, D. S. (1995) · Biology & Philosophy · doi:10.1007/bf00851988 · Cited by 14
A Neurodynamic Theory of Schizophrenia (and Related Disorders)
Jellinger, K. A. (2009) · European Journal of Neurology · doi:10.1111/j.1468-1331.2008.02482.x · Cited by 14
Uncommon psychiatric syndromes, 4th edn: Edited by M David Enoch and Hadrian N Ball (Pp 260, pound25.00). Published by Arnold Publishers, London, 2001. ISBN 0-340-76388-4
Trimble, M. (2002) · Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & Psychiatry · doi:10.1136/jnnp.73.2.211-c · Cited by 14
Show Me the Science
Glore, S. R. (2001) · Journal of the American Dietetic Association · doi:10.1016/s0002-8223(01)00050-5 · Cited by 14
Editorial
David, A. S., & Halligan, P. W. (1996) · Cognitive Neuropsychiatry · doi:10.1080/135468096396659 · Cited by 14
The cognitive neuropsychological understanding of persecutory delusions
Langdon, R. A., McKay, R., & Coltheart, M. (2008) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/med:psych/9780199206315.003.0011 · Cited by 14
Self-citation
Persecutory delusions: reminiscence of ancestral hostile threats?
Zolotova, J., & Brüne, M. (2005) · Evolution and Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2005.08.001 · Cited by 13
de Clérambault’s Syndrome
Vicente, Y. M. R., Seijo, J. C. G., & Martínez, I. L. (2021) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-19650-3_301164 · Cited by 10
Head Movement and Vision in Underwater-Feeding Birds of Stream, Lake, and Seashore
Casperson, L. W. (1999) · PDXScholar (Portland State University) · doi:10.0000/096020199389707 · Cited by 10
“Sleights of mind”: Delusions and self-deception
McKay, R., Langdon, R. A., & Coltheart, M. (2009) · Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich) · Cited by 10
Self-citation
5000 B.C. and other philosophical fantasies
Smullyan, R. M. (1983) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 9
Supernatural Punishment and the Evolution of Cooperation
JOHNSON, D. D. P., & Krueger, O. (2004) · Political Theology · Cited by 9
4 Rational and Irrational Beliefs from an Evolutionary Perspective
Wilson, D. S. (2009) · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195182231.003.0004 · Cited by 7
Head Movement and Vision in Underwater-Feeding Birds of Stream, Lake, and Seashore
Casperson, L. W. (1999) · Bird Behavior · doi:10.3727/096020199389707 · Cited by 7
How to Make Mistakes
Dennett, D. C. (1995) · CogPrints (University of Southampton) · Cited by 6
Self-citation
Book Review: Uncommon Psychiatric Syndromes
BLOOM, V. R. (1980) · Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine · doi:10.1177/014107688007300334 · Cited by 6
The fixation of superstitious beliefs
Talmont-Kamiński, K. (2009) · Dialnet (Universidad de la Rioja) · Cited by 5
Oxford Handbook of Religion and Science
Goodenough, U. W., & Deacon, T. W. (2006) · Cited by 4
Peer Review Commentary. Are Dyslexics Different? I & II
Coltheart, M., Frith, U., Morton, J., et al. (1996) · Dyslexia · doi:10.1002/(sici)1099-0909(199606)2:2 · Cited by 3
Why Believe in Belief?
Dennett, D. C. (1985) · Contemporary Psychology · doi:10.1037/023384 · Cited by 3
Self-citation
Evolutionary Theory and Religious Belief
Schloss, J. P. (2009) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199543656.003.0013 · Cited by 3
Morbid jealousy as a function of fitness-related life-cycle dimensions
Schipper, L. D., Easton, J. A., & Shackelford, T. K. (2006) · Behavioral and Brain Sciences · doi:10.1017/s0140525x06009514 · Cited by 2
A Variant of misidentification delusion in a patient with right frontal and temporal brain injury
Langdon, R. A., Cooper, S., Connaughton, E., et al. (2006) · Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment · Cited by 2
How Things Are
Brockman, J. (1995) · Cited by 1
Untitled work
Waldvogel (1999) · doi:10.1002/1531-8249(199907)46:1
Untitled work
(1982)

Research works printed but not linked: 28

Smith, 2006, In praise of self-deception, Entelechy: Mind and Culture
Ramachandran, 1994, Neuronal group selection
Dawkins, 2006, The selfish gene: 30th anniversary edition
Bloom, 2004, Descartes' baby: How child development explains what makes us human
Haselton, 2007, Encyclopedia of social psychology, vol. 1, 311
Bloom, 2005, Is God an accident?, Atlantic Monthly, 296, 105
Goleman, 1987, Who are you kidding?, Psychology Today, 21, 24
Davidson, 1994, Philosophical perspectives, vol. 8: Logic and Language, 121
Paulhus, 1988, Manual for the balanced inventory of desirable responding
Haselton, 2003, Responding to the social world: Implicit and explicit processes in social judgments and decisions, 23
Trivers, 1985, Social evolution
Dawkins, 2006, The God delusion
Lockard, 1978, On the adaptive significance of self-deception, Human Ethology Newsletter, 21, 4
Fodor, 2007, Why pigs don't have wings, London Review of Books
Coyne, 2007, Letter to the editor re: Fodor, London Review of Books, 29
Dennett, 2007, Letter to the Editor re Fodor, London Review of Books, 29
Voland E. (2008) The evolution of morality – What is conscience good for? How cooperative breeding might pave another route to altruism. Paper presented at the plenary session of the XIX Biennial Conference of the International Society for Human Ethology (ISHE08), Bologna, Italy, July 13–18, 2008. Conference website: http://www.ishe08.org/
Bayne, 2009, Delusion and self-deception: Affective and motivational influences on belief formation, 1
2000, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR)
Pascal, 1670, Pensées
Gigerenzer, 1999, Simple heuristics that make us smart
Trivers, 2006, The selfish gene: 30th anniversary edition, xix
Voltaire, 1759, Candide
10.1037/0278-6133.13.4.299 · DOI
Myers, 2002, Social psychology
Humphrey, 2004, Oxford companion to the mind, 735
Duntley J. & Buss D. M. (1998) Evolved anti-homicide modules. Paper presented at the Human Behavior and Evolution Society Conference, Davis, CA, July 1998.
Tallis, 2005, Love sick

Sorted by citations

The optimism bias
Sharot, T. (2011) · Current Biology · doi:10.1016/j.cub.2011.10.030 · Cited by 1,187
Hallucinations and strong priors
Corlett, P. R., Horga, G., Fletcher, P. C., Alderson-Day, B., Schmack, K., & Powers, A. R. (2019) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2018.12.001 · Cited by 534
Adaptive constructive processes and the future of memory
Schacter, D. L. (2012) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037/a0029869 · Cited by 417
Religion and morality.
McKay, R., & Whitehouse, H. (2015) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/a0038455 · Cited by 353
Self-citation
Forming beliefs: Why valence matters
Sharot, T., & Garrett, N. (2016) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2015.11.002 · Cited by 345

See all 474

Authors: McKay, R. T., & Dennett, D. C.
Affiliations: University of Zurich (CH)
Tufts University (US)
ORCID: McKay, Ryan T.
Dennett, Daniel C.
Venue: Behavioral and Brain Sciences
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Published: 2009-12
Volume: 32
Issue: 6
Pages: 493-510
ISSN: 0140-525X (ISSN-L)
1469-1825
DOI: 10.1017/s0140525x09990975
OpenAlex: W2116598522
Cited by: 474
References: 521
Citations by year: 2026: 27 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 26 · 2023: 32 · 2022: 65 · 2021: 28 · 2020: 32 · 2019: 19 · 2018: 28 · 2017: 29 · 2016: 25 · 2015: 20 · 2014: 32 · 2013: 29 · 2012: 35
FWCI: 28.31
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: hybrid
doi.org
Licence: other-oa
www.cambridge.org/core/terms (unspecified, 58 d)
Locations: Behavioral and Brain Sciences (publishedVersion, other-oa)
PubMed (publishedVersion)
Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich) (acceptedVersion, other-oa)
reroDoc Digital Library (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich)
Funders: University of Oxford
European Commission
Topics: Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior
Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics
Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Philosophy and Theoretical Science
Keywords: misconceptions, belief evolution, delusions, self-deception, positive illusions, belief formation, evolutionary design, epistemic error
MeSH terms: Adaptation, Psychological, Culture, Delusions, Biological Evolution, Humans, Deception, Psychological Theory, Religion and Psychology

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review

The evolution of misbelief

Abstract

Overview

Integrity signals

Verification

Claims the paper makes

Claims other papers make about this one

Self-check

Citations

Cites

Cited by

Related

Metadata

Record

About these checks